Lazarus
Cheerilee peered down the hole along with everypony else. The purple crystal staircase that spiraled down into the blackness below was narrow. Maybe one adult pony could go down at a time, and even they would have to watch their hooves.
“I’m going down.” Sunburst, who looked the worst out of all of the gathered ponies, resolved aloud. His mane clung to his face with sweat while his beard stuck to his neck. The round glasses on his face fogged up with little droplets covering the lenses.
“Not alone you’re not.” Cheerilee looked up to the stallion. He opened his mouth to protest, but Cheerilee shook her head. “No way. I don’t care if you think it’s safe, I’m not letting you go down there by yourself.” She truly didn’t want the studious unicorn to get hurt, but getting away from Applejack for some time didn’t sound too bad either. “Can you take Scootaloo upstairs after breakfast for me, Bon Bon?” A nod from the candymaker was all she needed.
“I’ll come too.” The surprising voice of Pinkie Pie came from the crowd. She walked forward and looked down into the hole. “If-if this can help us get Twilight back then maybe she can help Dashie.” The continued belief that Rainbow Dash could be saved was endearing and sad at the same time. It was a sense of loyalty that Rainbow would admire.
Sunburst opened his mouth but Cheerilee shot him a glare, which thankfully took. The last thing they needed was yet someone else in the castle to be angry, and giving Pinkie a bit of hope wouldn’t be such a bad thing, right?
“Okay.” Sunburst looked down into the pit and squinted. “We need a flashlight or something. The last thing I want is to fall down those stairs…” He rubbed his chin in thought. Cheerilee hadn’t really seen any sort of light source around, they hadn’t needed one due to the sun always being up.
“I have one.” Pinkie produced a flashlight from...somewhere. Cheerilee swore it looked like it came from her mane, but that didn’t seem possible. “Here.” The mare walked up and gave the light to Sunburst, who looked equally as confused.
“Th-thanks?” Sunburst watched Pinkie for a moment, then looked at the flashlight and turned it on to check if it worked. “Alright...well, here goes.” Sunburst was the first through, his bulkier stallion frame took some maneuvering to get through but he eventually managed it.
Once he had cleared enough space, Cheerilee followed. She had to turn her head sideways in order to fit through and she had to squeeze her hips together in order to get them in. Pinkie was the last and she had similar troubles to Cheerilee but she made it fine.
“Y’all be careful.” AJ demanded as she peered through. “We’ll work on openin’ this a bit more. Just holler if you need somethin’.” Applejack’s attitude seemed to have softened at least which was a shade better than the raging pony from earlier.
Still, even if Applejack had cooled down it was still hard to forgive her. Elytra had tried to help the group, she had ventured out into a dangerous world beyond the castle walls to get supplies. Should she have told everypony sooner? Yes, but what Applejack did was out of line. They would have to move past it, they would have to forgive and forget to survive.
The trio of ponies made their way down the winding staircase into the darkness. Nopony spoke, they all just watched their hooves and looked to where the flashlight was pointing. The walls of the pit were pure purple crystal, multifaceted and polished to a mirror shine.
It wasn’t until they got to a point where the light from above had all but faded that they realized the pit wasn’t entirely dark. The crystal around them was glowing. It was dim and didn’t provide enough light to illuminate the staircase, but it was something.
“It’s kinda pretty…” Cheerilee mumbled as she dragged a hoof along the glowing surface. As she touched it a small tingle shot through her body and made her withdraw. Every single hair on her body was standing on end from the contact. “Whoa.”
“It's magic.” Sunburst rattled after a short look back. “The deeper we get the more focused and pure the energy inside of the crystal will become.” The stallion was walking basically along the edge of the stairs, keeping a good distance from the charged walls. “That’s why it’s important once we get to the mana pool not to touch it. Right now you’ll receive a little jolt of filtered magic, but if you come into contact with pure unfiltered mana you’ll be overcharged with power and it’ll fry every nerve in your body.” That was as good a reason as any to keep your hooves to yourself, Cheerilee decided.
“Overcharged…?” Pinkie asked, prodding for more information. With a quick look back at the other mare in the group she saw that the Element of Laughter leaning into the wall as she walked. “Like...a battery?”
“Yes.” Sunburst answered as he peered over the edge. “If we continue the internal battery analogy with pony magic, then I would say touching the mana pool would be like connecting an eight volt battery to a hydroelectric dam.” Sunburst shook his head and blew a small raspberry. “What a way to go.”
The stallion moved the flashlight so it was pointed over the edge. Cheerilee craned her neck to get a look and only saw more and more stairs, but at least the glow coming from the walls was brighter further down. This was going to be a long walk.
----
Scootaloo was placed at the top of the stairs with her scooter. With a pat on her head and a smile, she was left on her own again. The filly hopped on her scooter and buzzed down the hallway. At first she was going to just go to the room she and Cheerilee shared but her wings carried her to Elytra’s door instead.
She felt bad for the changeling, really. Applejack was wrong to hurt her, especially after she had gotten Scootaloo’s scooter back and some of that cider from somewhere in town which seemed to make ponies happy. Not to mention if they had sent Elytra out to go get Sweetie Belle then she would probably be dead instead of Big Mac...and Scootaloo would be in the same place as Applejack.
It felt like there was no right answer. No matter who had gone out, somepony would’ve died. Every time somepony went outside there had been a life lost...well except for Elytra’s scavenging missions. But that was different, right? She was alone and could shapeshift and stuff, if she had to come back with Sweetie Belle it wouldn’t have been as safe. With a shake of her head and a grumble she knocked on the door.
“Elytra? It’s Scootaloo.” Before she could knock again or say something else the door was encased in a green glow and it swung open. Taking the action as an invitation, she scooted in and dismounted.
The inside of Elytra’s room was, to put it nicely, otherworldly. The window was covered in what looked to be a hardened green-black slime that eliminated most light from coming in. There were a few of those orb ‘Heart’ things like the one she had given to Pinkie around the room as well. They were emitting a sickly green light that illuminated the space just enough. The oddest part was the bed which had been ripped apart, frame and mattress, and pieced together with more of that slime stuff to make a little cave in the corner of the room.
“Umm...hello…?” The atmosphere alone sent chills up her little spine, and the intense humidity of the room in the otherwise dry castle didn’t help. This felt like, well, like somewhere a changeling would live more than a pony.
“In here.” Scootaloo nearly jumped out of her skin when the voice came from the ‘nest’ that used to be a bed. A set of dark pink eyes stared at her from the darkness, the rest of her body not visible in the shadows. “Oh, sorry.” Green fire swept across the shapeshifter’s shell and it turned from pitch black to its usual shade of aqua.
“Are...are you okay?” Scootaloo limped over to the little makeshift cave. She wanted to lean on something to take the pressure off of her bad leg, but she really really did not want to touch that slime.
“I’ve been better,” muttered the bug. “What about you?” The deflection was obvious and, just like Scootaloo, it wasn’t going to fly. The filly sat right in front of the makeshift nest and looked at her friend.
“No you’re not. Just, like, talk to me about it. Please?” Scootaloo wasn’t good at this heart to heart stuff. She had always had somepony else around to do the mushy stuff while she provided an assist every once in a while. Carrying the whole thing was going to take some effort.
“I-” Elytra stopped, that nervous buzz returned and filled the air. “I thought I was doing the right thing. I just thought that I could use my abilities to help and…” her jaw clicked and she looked away for a moment. “And all I did was screw it up. As soon as I figured out I could shift without turning into one of those things I should’ve come forward. I should’ve told everypony.”
This was tearing Elytra up on the inside, that much was obvious. The shell around her eyes was slick from tears and her posture was slumped. After everything she had told Cheerilee and Scootaloo last night it only made sense. She had tried so hard to make up for her past actions only for it all to backfire.
“You-” Scootaloo sighed and flopped down in front of the entrance to the nest. “I’m going to be honest, I’m not good at this.” The filly took a moment to think, not sure where to go with this train of thought. “You’re a good pon-er-changeling. You’re good and you made a mistake. Some ponies, or creatures I guess, make more mistakes than others.” Scootaloo readjusted her hooves, still trying to get comfortable. “We have to try to...to just be better next time and learn.”
“Thanks Scootaloo.” Elytra smiled softly and scooted over in her mini-hive until she was pressed against the side. “Wanna come in? There’s enough room.” The changeling patted the little spot next to her with a hoof. “It looks gross to you ponies, I know, but it’s cozy in here.”
“Alright…” The apprehension in Scootaloo’s voice was thick and heavy as the word fell from her mouth. She slowly got up without putting any pressure on her bad leg and hobbled into the nest.
The ground beneath the filly’s hooves wasn’t as slimy as expected, instead it was almost spongy. It had a little bounce to it, the only comparison in her mind being jelly if it was a lot stronger and warmer. The inside of the nest was big enough for Elytra and probably one other fully grown pony if they were smooshed together, so for the changeling and the pegasus it was more than enough.
“Why is it so small?” she asked as she walked in a little circle in the room provided as the shapeshifter watched her. “And why is it so warm in your room?” Scootaloo laid down on her side with her back facing Elytra. She let her head hit the spongy ground and found it didn’t make too bad of a pillow.
“Changelings, well, we’re a species that likes tight spaces. We like being close to others.” Elytra sidled up next to Scootaloo as she spoke. “There were a lot of us and space was always tight. Honestly, I’ve always had trouble sleeping alone...so I built this to help.” Scootaloo couldn’t help but giggle at that. It sounded like Elytra needed a stuffed animal or something to her. “As for why it’s warm-” Elytra continued over the filly’s giggling. “-we get cold easily. This stuff-” her hoof touched the substance that was holding her little nest together. “-it helps keep the air humid and warm. It doesn’t let heat escape.”
“What is it?” The question prompted the changeling to clear her throat and stammer a bit.
“W-well...it’s..hmm.” Elytra opened her mouth and let her tongue hang out. It looked like Spike’s tongue a bit, but thicker. Slowly a green dollop of saliva fell to the floor from it, which was hit by a little blast of the bug’s magic. Once the light died down, Scootaloo could see it was the same stuff she was laying on.
“Ewwwwwwwww!” Scootaloo stood up as fast as she could and stuck her tongue out with a ‘blech’. “It’s your spit! That’s gross!” She couldn’t get that image out of her head now, she had laid down in Elytra’s spit bed!
“Pfffft!” Elytra had been trying to hold back a laugh but couldn’t any longer. The changeling rolled onto her back and let out a mighty fit of belly laughs. “I-It’s comfy, though!” she managed to belt out between guffaws. Tears once again formed in the dark pink eyes of the changeling, but this time they were happy tears, much more preferable. “I-I’m sorry Scootaloo, I shou-should’ve told you sooner.” Eventually Elytra had stopped laughing long enough to wipe her tears and speak again. “Queens below, that was funny.”
“Funny for you.” Scootaloo grumbled as she poked the ground. It was gross, but kinda cool at the same time. She would feel really bad about leaving Elytra now and the last thing that she needed was her friend going back to being sad. With that thought, she settled back down with a huff. “Anyways…”
“R-right.” Elytra cleared her throat. “Well, I was actually about to take a nap. Would you mind joining me?” Now knowing that her newest friend enjoyed and even needed company to sleep better it made the decision a lot easier. Scootaloo nodded and pressed up against the warm chitin of the changeling to take a nap.
----
Cheerilee’s legs were tired. They had been walking down these stairs for almost ten minutes now and while they were closer to the bottom, it hadn’t been an easy trek. The light from the cave walls had gotten a lot brighter in that time and was now enough that the flashlight had been shut off and returned to Pinkie to be stored...somewhere.
“I see the bottom!” Sunburst delivered some hope and relief to the teacher’s hooves. He increased his pace and became increasingly reckless when it came to his hoof placements. She couldn’t blame him, she was even taking two steps at a time now.
The ten minute walk ended with a one minute sprint to the bottom. At the bottom was a chamber the same width as the tunnel above it and a single door, gilded depictions of the Elements of Harmony resting on its face. There was nothing else.
“It’s gotta be through there, right?” Pinkie spoke as all four of her hooves impacted the ground with a thud. “The pool, I mean.” She tapped her hooves nervously against the floor while Sunburst studied the door.
“Well there’s no lock.” The stallion hummed and cocked his head as he studied the door more and put a hoof on the knob. He gave it a turn and the door clicked open. “No enchantments either. I don’t think Twilight or the castle ever expected anypony to make it down here…”
“Well good.” Cheerilee wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth. Considering it took ten creatures to move the map enough to barely fit through, it wasn’t much of a surprise that there wasn’t a latch on the door. “C’mon, let’s go!” She was as excited as she had been since this all started. If Sunburst was right and this was the key to saving them, she wanted to see it and secure it.
“Here goes everything…” The stallion muttered before pushing the door open. Beyond the portal was a sight to behold.
A massive cavern laid before them, wild structures and pillars made of the same material as the castle jutted from the floor and walls and it was all glowing. A stalactite the size of Ponyville’s town hall hung from the ceiling. The tip of it came to rest in a pool of shimmering electric blue liquid that dominated the bulk of the space but was only about ten to twelve feet across. She could see pure energy flowing through the stalactite from the pool as it spread through every crystal in the room.
“Wow…” All three ponies said in unison. Even though none of them had a horn, or a functioning one at least, they could feel the magic in the air. It was an audible hum of energy, one that raised hairs and made hearts race.
“I-I’m going to go tell Applejack!” Pinkie shouted suddenly and loudly, her eyes the size of pinpricks. “I’ll be back!” Before the other two could speak or raise an objection, Pinkie disappeared in a flash of pink.
“I guess it’ll be good for them to know that we’re safe.” Cheerilee commented as she and Sunburst began walking towards the pool. There was a small path that was free of any large deposits of crystal that lead directly to the edge. They were walking along it when the whole cavern shook, a few loose crystals falling from the ceiling high above onto the ground. “W-what in Equestria was that?”
“The unicorns.” Sunburst spoke flatly as he took in all of his surroundings with an intense curiosity. “Digging here.” It wasn’t the magic in the air that made Cheerilee’s heart race now, it was fear. To say such a thing with little to no emotions was absurd.
“I’m sorry, what?!” She raced to overtake the other pony and stood in front of him. “They’re digging here?!” Her nose was mere inches from his as her mind started to race, so many pieces falling into place all at once. “No no no, you said they couldn’t corrupt it! It’s too strong, right? You said it could fight off the corruption a-and if they get close it will change them back!”
“Theoretically, but that has to be the reason they’re digging.” Sunburst pushed Cheerilee aside and they both continued walking. “Maybe it could handle all the unicorns in Ponyville and Canterlot, maybe. But what about four alicorns as well?” Cheerilee hadn’t even thought about the fact that Cadance had been spotted over Canterlot. Were they all headed here? “Even if they can’t disable it right away, they can dig into this cavern and prepare to.” The even level tone of his voice only unsettled Cheerilee more. “It’s why we needed to find it. Get to it first. Change Twilight back with it. Weaken them. Go from there.” The degradation of his sentences into fractured bits let her know that he was panicking just as much as her, he was just a lot better at hiding it.
“Okay, well how do we use this to change Twilight?” They finally came to the edge of the pool. From here she could see that the mana was a viscous bright blue liquid, almost like electric syrup if she was forced to describe it. “It’s not like we can drag her into the castle or get her down here.” Sweetie Belle had taken minutes to change and she had thrashed wildly, could they even contain Twilight long enough for the change to happen?
“It’s the wrong color.” Sunburst seemingly ignored her question as he knelt by the pool. “In school they brought us a vial of pure mana straight from the Central Pool. It was pink, not blue. Why?” That only caused Cheerilee to groan, they didn’t have time for this! “The spark that resides in us all…”
Sunburst’s hoof reached out to a crystal boulder that was lodged into the ground right beside him. On the side of it, scrawled in what looked to be chalk, was a simple phrase in Twilight Sparkle’s writing.
‘The spark that resides in us all.’
“Sunburst, we don’t have time to ruminate on Twilight’s poetry.” Cheerilee growled as she grabbed one of his shoulders with a hoof and spun the stallion around. “How are we going to change Twilight back?” His gaze was empty, obviously still thinking on the line. “Sunburst! Focus!”
“I-if-” The stallion finally snapped out of his trance and began to speak. “-we can’t bring her in and down to the pool, then we bring the pool to her.” He was fumbling with his words as two separate trains of thought ran parallel to one another. “Make her ingest some or...or inject her with it. I don’t know.”
“Won’t that kill her?” Everything he had said about pure unfiltered mana had been about how dangerous it was to come into contact with. “You said it would fry a unicorn’s brain to draw from it directly and you said it would fry every nerve in our body if we touched it.”
“Sh-she’s an alicorn.” Sunburst turned back around to face the pool. “Alicorns can draw in massive amounts of magic.” The mage slipped back into his lecture mode. “Continuing the battery line of thinking; it would be like hooking up an industrial strength backup generator to a really big house. It would be a lot but it wouldn’t be enough to kill her...I don’t think.” That was not reassuring. “If we kill her, that’s one alicorn down and three to go. If it changes her back, then we have Twilight back and we’re one step closer to fixing this.”
“Is there a third option where we don’t risk killing one of the princesses?” Cheerilee had to ask. She didn’t want to gamble with Twilight’s life when her friends were already so beaten down. There was no guarantee that they could survive seeing their best friend and the one pony who had brought them all together die.
“No.” Sunburst rejected the idea bluntly. “Her internal reserve of magic is massive, containing her long enough inside of the castle to recycle her tainted magic with the clean stuff would take time and lives we don’t have.” They both sighed at the same time. “It’s our only chance. No other way.”
The two sat there for a few minutes. Cheerilee was sure that he was focused on the little phrase on the rock, while she was thinking about how they could possibly get close enough to Twilight to do anything. Somepony would get killed and she was terrified that there was no way around that.
“Pinkie! Pinkie y’all come back here!” Applejack’s shouts could be heard coming from the door at the entrance to the cavern, along with two sets of hooves pounding against crystal. “Ah said stop!” Both ponies sitting by the edge of the shimmering blue pool turned.
Pinkie Pie ran through the door, her teeth clenched and her hooves moving as fast as they equinely could. Applejack was hot on her tail, sweat dappling the already exhausted farmpony’s features. That wasn’t what caught their attention though, it was the pony on Pinkie’s back.
Rainbow was draped across her back, limp and near lifeless. Her once sky blue coat was now a shade of pale blue, her mane and tail also looked drained of any and all of their usual vibrancy. If one looked closely they might see her chest rise and fall ever so slightly.
“Move!” Pinkie yelled at them both as she closed in. Cheerilee hopped out of the way, not wanting to get run over, but Sunburst wasn’t as lucky. Pinkie Pie shoved the stallion out of the way as she skidded to a halt at the edge of the pool of mana. “I-I’m sorry, Dashie...I can’t let you die. I have to try something.” The pink pony turned around and bucked the pegasus off of her back.
“PINKIE NO!”
Applejack and Sunburst shouted in sync as Rainbow sailed into the air and landed in the bright blue liquid with a wet slap. The body of the speedster slowly sank beneath the surface and disappeared.
“W-what are you, STUPID?!” Sunburst was in Pinkie’s face in a millisecond. “If she wasn’t dead before, she’s sure dead now!” He scoffed and threw his hooves up in frustration. “If you tainted that mana pool...y-you’ve killed us all! You’ve doomed us!” Sunburst didn’t get another word out.
The calm stillness of the mana pool was shattered as Rainbow Dash, her entire body glowing as bright as the sun outside, flew into the air.
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"The spark that resides in us all"
Sounds like more of that "friendship" thing. And I guess the pool being blue means it's safe?
Fillies, gentlecolts, and Changelings of all kinds, we're back in business.
Things might just be turning around.
10842303
Until you remember that Baero has so far gone 3-for-3 in taking away something almost immediately after giving us hope. I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop.
oh no, something positive is followed by something bad
10842307
10842310
Imagine not trusting me smh
Hmmm.
Still unanswered questions though like:
Why did the map sent Twilight alone instead of her and the crew. That begs the question like. Did the map purposely send Twilight to cause this kind of trouble?
Why would the map send her in the place that could corrupt and turn her into a monster?
10842321
Story isn’t over yet. Still got a while to go. Plenty enough time to answer those questions.
10842324
That's why I'm excited.
Though I'm curious as to why the unfiltered magic specifically turns ponies into monsters, why not have a random limb or 7 sets of eyes engraved on your skull.
I'm betting my money that this kind of trouble was intentional, maybe it was Twilight or Sombra, maybe even Flim and Flam sold some drugs to Twilight
10842315
derpicdn.net/img/view/2014/2/8/546808__safe_screencap_spike_simple+ways_animated_aside+glance_fourth+wall_hub+logo_hubble_looking+at+you_male_raised+eyebrow_reaction+image_solo_the+hub.gif
10842329
given how traditional unicorns are in fiction it could be that whatever affected them is actually them changing back into their true forms as a natural resistance to magic having mellowed them out in the past.
Hey, looks like my idea worked, no stabbing required.
I hope there aren’t any nasty side effects.
Time for Dash to go Super Saiyan?
thank god a good turn that wasn't tainted by the loss of something else.
When Dashie came back I screamed -
Applejack is going to insist that Elytra inject Twilight.
10842315
Our trust has been stretched thin...
Aside from that, hoooooooly shit that art
10842321
Maybe this was already going to happen and the map knew. It sent Twilight on a mission to stop it, which she could still be trying to do. We don’t know if she had completed her mission when she returned.
So Twilight got corrupted intentionally. Because she’s an alicorn and has access to way more magic than a unicorn, it took her longer to completely turn. She waited until she got back to Ponyville to use magic to spread the corruption to the leylines so she would be where she needed to be when this kicked off, before finally turning herself.
Nah. Getting violent was wrong, but fully understandable considering her state of grief, anxiety and trauma from fighting. Elytra's actions are so irresponsibly stupid that Cheerilie's support of her without question is still mind-boggling.
I am sure there is an explanation of why Elytra didn't think to share her ability to sneak off (I had though maybe she was podding injured but still living ponies to heal them/stasis them to keep them alive, which would be time consuming and keep her from doing a lot of extra recon or grabbing things, and would also be hard to explain to the others without looking evil, especially if the podding doesn't work ), but until it's actually shared, why shouldn't Applejack treat it for what it is, which is moronic to the point of costing lives at best, and malicious/ quite sus at worst.
What Applejack Sees: Changeling uses ability to navigate outside of castle safely not to help ponies leaving the castle survive, including her now dead brother, but instead to ingratiate herself to two ponies who already really like her, and seemingly make all the ponies feel more comfortable in their entrapment with non-necessities, which has the benefit of feeding her. Like she is creating a new "nest."
I can even imagine that she misunderstood what is a "valuable" supply even is, because as an eater of emotion/ eater of sharing love, grabbing things that make others happy is collecting food, it is instinctual.
But again, until that it is explained, Applejack has no reason to extend a patient fraction of a second to her, and Cheerlie not even being inquisitive of it, let alone remotely critical, is bizarre.
RD: I HAVE THE POWER!!!!
I can already see what pinkie is gonna try and do
Rainbow dash looks like she is the pool now
UNLIMITED POWER!
10842378
I want you to know that this is what I said to my SO when describing what happens for the art
media.discordapp.net/attachments/803147109486166047/849295502997848134/image0.png
Not sure why Sunburst was worried about tainting the pool.
After all, he had estimated that the central pool can cleanse the entire unicorn populations of Ponyville and Canterlot. A single Pegasus dumped into the pool certainly will not have any significant impact to the pool itself.
Though given how stressed he was the ever since the disaster, he might just be freaking out.
ayoo dashie got the mana drip👁👅<
SUPER DASH GOOOO!
Things may be looking up. Maybe
Also I really love the art. It really adds a lot to the story
I’m glad we have something good came out of f that a. Although, an overcharged battery can short out. This might have some dangerous long term effects. Time will tell.
So, what is the price this time?
Huh. Did I actually call it with the old mana pool already being backed up with tainted mana for a long time? Guess we'll find out eventually. It almost seems now like this is a sort of rebirth cycle, with a new, pure pool taking the place of the old, failing one. Or maybe a superior version supplanting an inferior one.
Yeah, your spouse does good work. Real good. They could make money off that kind of skill.
10842301
Either that or this story is going to lead into that MLP/Transformers crossover comic.
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Spoilers~
Hell yeah! That's all I gotta say for that chapter lol. Great work Baero, can't wait for the next chapter! God this has been such a great read.
10842615
I think you are probably on to something. Can you remember any mention of the mutated unicorns' magic being pink, or otherwise off-color? Either the main pool has been back-logged for a long time, or the mana pool beneath the castle is some sort of ultra-pure magic, or maybe a different type of magic altogether.
10842695
That's more or less my thinking. It's either a cycle of a new pool replacing a dying one or a new form of pool that's more powerful and/or less vulnerable to taint than the ancient one.
And no. I recall Sweetie's horn glow changing colors when they brought her in but I think that was just her normal color being overtaken by the color of the Castle Pool.
I have to say, bravo for getting such high-quality chapters out so quickly. Is it perfect grammar, sentence structure, etc? No, but with how close it comes at this pace, it might as well be.
chapter name makes me think of DC's Lazarus pits
those saved a guy but drove him insane
maybe that's what's boutta happen here
10842715
Actually just taken from the figure in the Bible named Lazarus who was brought back from the dead.
10842699
Yeah I might have someone go over it with a fine tooth comb once I’m done with it to iron the grammar and other stuff out
I love the combination of that picture and the title. Like she's the first out of a gateway, the majestic herald of the end to come. Here's hoping that wasn't intentional.
I kinda wanna do a reading of this when it's complete.
10842738
👀👀👀
10842698
Ah yes, that does remind me that Sweetie's magic was described as its normal color before being converted back. If Sweetie's magic is permanently blue now, that wpuld give us a major hint that the new pool is certainly a different kind of magic; if Rarity's magic is still its normal color, that could be explained by her internal battery not getting drained and refueled completely by this new magic type. I don't think we'll get the details to piece that together for certain next chapter, but probably in the next 2-3 chapters.
10842727
Keep me in mind then! I used to do TONS of editing, school and life has taken me away from that the past few years, but I really want to get back into it. If it helps, I wasn't far from a perfect score in the English portion of my SATs
Does this "disease" only affect ponies?
What about the other races, because what is happening cannot be hidden?
I hope to see what the consequences of this whole situation will be.
10842760
Assuming Sunburst is on the right track, and so far there's no reason to think otherwise, it'd affect any creature that taps directly into the mana that propagates the land. My personal theory on why Elytra is unaffected is that changelings not only use emotions as food, but their source of magic as well.
10842738
You and me both.
10842842
Would you be willing to collaborate on it?
Things are looking better than ever.
Everything's gonna come crashing down, isn't it?
10842760
Well we've seen lots of mention about the bodies of other ponies, but I haven't seen anything about the bodies of other animals, like birds or dogs or anything like that. It's possible they're for all intents and purposes "invisible" to the affected unicorns.